Publishing history

The Daily Bugle is featured prominently in most Marvel Comics titles, especially Spider-Man. In 1996, a three-issue (black and white) limited series was printed.

Since 2006, Marvel has published a monthly Daily Bugle newspaper reporting on the company's publications and authors. Marvel earlier used the newspaper format to promote Marvel's crossover events Civil War and House of M—reporting on storyline events as if the comic book Daily Bugle had come to life. Marvel restored this promotional function for the 2007 death of Captain America.

Fictional biography

The Daily Bugle was founded in 1897 and has been published daily ever since. The Daily Bugle is printed in tabloid format like its rival The Daily Globe. The publisher of the Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson, began his journalistic career as a reporter for the Bugle while still in high school. Jameson purchased the then-floundering Bugle with inheritance funds, from his recently deceased father-in-law and turned the paper into a popular success. Other magazines published from time-to-time include the revived Now magazine and the now-defunct Woman magazine, edited by Carol Danvers.

J. Jonah Jameson, Inc. purchased the Goodman Building on 39th Street and Second Avenue in 1936 and moved its entire editorial and publishing facilities there. Now called the Daily Bugle Building, the office complex is forty-six stories tall, and is capped by the Daily Bugle logo in 30-foot letters on the roof. There are loading docks in the rear of the building, reached by a back alley. Three floors are devoted to the editorial office of the Bugle and two sub-basement levels to the printing presses, while the rest of the floors are rented. (A panel in issue 105 of The Amazing Spider-Man showed the Bugle building located near a street sign at the corner of Madison Avenue and a street in the East Fifties (the second digit was not shown). This suggests that the building may have been relocated at some point.)

The newspaper is noted for its anti-superhero slant, especially concerning Spider-Man, whom the paper constantly smears as a part of its editorial policy. However, the Editor-in-Chief, "Robbie" Robertson, the only subordinate to Jameson who is not intimidated by him, has worked to moderate it.

Due to declining circulation, Jameson has conceded to Robertson's objections and has created a special feature section of the paper called The Pulse which focuses on superheroes. In addition, the paper also intermittently ran a glossy magazine called Now Magazine.

Recently in the pages of the New Avengers, the team decided to strike a deal with Jameson regarding exclusive content in exchange for removing the strong anti-Spider-Man sentiment from the newspaper, to which Jameson agreed. Merely one day later, Jameson broke the spirit-though not the letter-of his agreement with Iron Man, using the headline "a wanted murderer (Wolverine), an alleged ex-member of a terrorist organization (Spider-Woman) and a convicted heroin-dealer (Luke Cage) are just some of the new recruits set to bury the once good name of the Avengers," but refraining from attacking Spider-Man. This caused Jessica Jones to sell the first pictures of her newborn baby to one of the Bugle's competitors instead.

In the first issue of Runaways Vol. 2, Victor Mancha states in an exchange about Spider-Man that "The only people who think he's a criminal are Fox News and the Daily Bugle. And the Bugle is, like, the least respected newspaper in New York City." The paper's major named competitors are the The Daily Globe, which implicitly takes a more balanced look at the superhero, Front Line, run by EIC Ben Urich and Sally Floyd, and The Alternative. After Peter Parker revealed he is Spider-Man and the Bugle planned to sue him for fraud, the paper itself was put on the defensive with front page accusations from The Globe (with information secretly supplied by Bugle reporter Betty Brant) of libeling the superhero.

The adventures of the staff of the newspaper beyond Peter Parker have been depicted in two series, Daily Bugle and The Pulse.

Recently, after Jameson suffered a near-fatal heart attack, his wife sold the Bugle to rival newspaper man Dexter Bennett, who changed the name to The DB, and transformed it into a scandal sheet.

Cliff Garner (Reporter) - formerly of the Air Force, investigated the possible conspiracy of Control, slain by co-conspiracy theorist General Edward Harrison

William Walter Goodman (Owner/Publisher)

Irving Griffin

Simon J Goodman (Publisher) - Publisher in the 1940s, name is probably a reference to Martin Goodman, first publisher of Marvel Comics.

Amber Grant (freelance photographer) - made Peter Parker envious of her ability to tell off Jameson and still sell to him; current status unknown

Derek Gratham (Intern)

Randy Green (Reporter) - Mystique in disguise, seen working as a Daily Bugle reporter in X-Factor

Jeffrey Haight (Photographer) - former boyfriend of Anna Kefkin, made alliance with Dr. Octopus in desperate effort to gain a front page photograph. Sent to prison for assisting in Dr. Octopus's escape.

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse timeline, the Daily Bugle is a clandestine paper run by humans meant to inform the public about the secrets of Apocalypse, here the tyrannical ruler of North America. This Daily Bugle is run by a Robbie Robertson, who is killed by a Brood-infected Christopher Summers, leaving the status of the paper unknown.

Amalgam

1602

In the Marvel 1602 setting, Jameson is publisher of the first "news-sheet" in the New World; the Daily Trumpet.

House of M

In this alternate reality, the Daily Bugle exists mostly as a propaganda machine for the ruling mutant hierarchy. Stories can be and are repressed if they aren't favorable enough to mutants.

Ultimate Daily Bugle

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, the Bugle is much the same as in the 616 version. The main difference is that Peter Parker is not employed as a photographer, but works on the newspaper's website after Jameson sees him assist with a problem. The newspaper plays less of a role in Ultimate Spider-Man than it did in the comics portraying the equivalent period of the 616 Spider-Man's career.

Other Media

Television

In the X-Men: Evolution episode "On Angel's Wings" Angel is seen reading about his heroic exploits in the Daily Bugle.

In the Spider-Man 3 special episode, X-Play parodied the paper in a skit called "The X-Play Bugle" with Adam Sessler as the chief editor.

In one of the New Scooby-Doo Movies starring Sandy Duncan, one of the cut out letters for a ransom note is from a newspaper. The newspaper reads Daily Bu le with the G missing.

Video games

In the arcade and console-imported game Marvel Super Heroes the Bugle is Spider-Man's stage. The fighting takes place on a platform that is first going vertical and then across the Daily Bugle.

In the multi-platform video game Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects the Daily Bugle is a recurring battleground throughout the story mode and available in the versus mode. Here the rooftop is surrounded by three destructible walls, and covered with explosive barrels, air conditioners, pipes, and poles for use in battle. Even the trademark letters that form "Daily Bugle" are available for throwing at enemies once damaged.

In the Ghost Rider video game released in 2007, The Daily Bugle appears in the challenge mode of the game. It even has big spider webs in the corners, which is an obvious reference to Spider-Man.